Honeythief Hell
by Envious Yet
Summary: In which the team is evil and the opposite gender, and nothing goes right for anyone. Major triggers, multiple pairings, rated M for a reason.
1. The Path I Chose

**Title: **_Honeythief Hell_**  
Triggers: **_Evil genderbended versions of YJ team, insanity, gore, non-descriptive non-con, underage sex, lesbian, gay, and straight sex, group sex, decapitation, disembowelment, dissections, cruelty, the Joker, etc._  
**Rating: **_M for everything above_**  
Characters: **_Genderbended YJ team- Rebecca 'Dixie' Grayson/Giggles, Willow 'Will' West/Inertia, Kalda'ahm/Mantalass, Rae Harper/Red Arrow, Apollo Crock/Apollo, M'rgann M'orzz/Morgan Morse/Martian Minor, Constance 'Connie' Kent-Luthor/Kryptongirl, Zachary Zatara_

_Injustice League- the Joker, Professor Zoom (Eobard Thawne), Black Manta, Sportsmaster (Lawrence Crock), Psimon, Alexander 'Lex' Luthor, Cheshire/Jade Crock_

**Pairings: **_There are so many. The YJ basically sleeps around with each other, although most prominent are Will/Dixie, Morgan/Connie, Kalda/Rae, Apollo/Zachary. But seriously, they all have twisted sex at least once, and Sportsmaster is an asshole. **  
**_**A/N: **_This is something I wrote for a very old request on the yj_anon_meme, but I hope that someone sees it there anyways. It starts out kind of light, but trust me, there's a lot of heavy stuff and if you're super sensitive I do not suggest reading this fic. There will be non-con, but nothing is descriptive, and there will be sex- lesbian sex, gay sex, and hetero sex- which will be more sensual than graphic. The title comes from the song Honeythief by Halou that pretty much inspired this fic. It's a great song, I really recommend you listen to it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!_

**Honeythief Hell**

/ **Rebecca Grayson – 1 **

For Dixie, it starts out because Batman isn't good enough. Batman can't give her what she truly needs—revenge. So when the Joker finds her, shivering and alone in this alley, still splattered with her parents' blood, he sees it as a marvelous opportunity and pounces upon it. Dixie looks up from behind black bangs and into the oil-slick eyes of Jack Napier and accepts the terms and conditions.

'_I can make everything better, my sweet.'_

Dixie offers him her hand, lathers her face in thick makeup and wicked scars, and adorns a newer, better personality.

'_I know you can.'_

The next day, Tony Zucco and the rest of his mob are discovered dead in their hideout while a new villain stalks the streets of Gotham. Giggles, the Joker's new _partner_. It's a little while before Harley Quinn finds her family, but Giggles is adamant when she does. She wants a mother.

Bruce Wayne, far away and locked as safely as possibly in his mansion, feels regret well up somewhere between his stomach and his shoulder blades, but cannot pinpoint the feeling. He tacks Giggle's calling card—Ace of Spades—onto the wall along with the Joker's. This is the birth of something terrible.

/ **Willow West – 1 **

For Will, it starts because _she_ isn't good enough. And neither are her parents. When lightning strikes, it strikes fast and hard and leaves nothing behind but a girl and a sizzling, burnt house with shriveled, _disgusting_ corpses staining the charcoal colored carpet. She is lucky—Zoom finds her before Barry ever can, so she is safe, and warm, and protected.

'_You're safe now, beautiful. No one will ever hurt you again.'_

She dons the costume on the Thursday and never takes it off again, not really. Inertia runs around Central City with Professor Zoom for the first time and Will thinks that the saddest thing of this whole story is that her own uncle does not recognize her.

It hurts, but Zoom says it will go away. The feelings, he says, will fade. They always do.

'_I don't want to kill him.'_

She has nightmares about it more often than not—of her parents' cadavers, with their black skin and black blood (stained with ash, her mind tells her), and of the _smell _(soot and snot clog up her nose _thepainistoomuch_), but Zoom tells her all of it will fade. She buries herself in other bodies, in better bodies, and never looks back.

'_You will someday.'_

He says,

'_You will forget.'_

And she does.

/ **Kalda'ahm – 1 **

Black Manta finds his daughter, his precious baby girl, floating around, unconscious and left for dead. He takes her in and rises her up, makes her better. More like him. He erases the silly things, of course, like _disobedience_ and _morals_ and she is perfect. He is so proud.

Kalda is a wonderful warrior, all elegance and grace on the field, taking down her opponents with the quick flick of a wrist. She never second-guesses him, never once dreams about a better way of living, and he _loves _her for it.

She is flawless and delightful, so Manta allows her one wish of going to the surface and being a warrior—a _true_ warrior—there.

In his bedroom, beside his beautiful wife, King Orin feels guilt tingle up this spine, travel up to his neck and shock his eyes open. He breathes heavily and wonders,

'_What have I done?'_

But does not know why.

/ **Apollo Crock – 1 **

Huntress flits through the streets of Star City, keeping a close eye on her younger son as he takes out the target. He is almost exactly like his father—strong, swift, _dangerous_—but also like his brother—seductive, snarky, _delicate_—and she loves him for it. Loves him far more than she could ever love Lawrence or Jade.

Of course, that doesn't stop her from ignoring the quiet whimpers at night, the telltale sound of Sportsmaster's whip swishing through the air and _cracking_, sharp and awful, on Apollo's broken skin.

She disregards the gentle groans as Sportsmaster slides in and out, in and out, punishing and rewarding all at once, making poor Apollo _loathe_ himself. But, as much as it kills her, Paula simply listens, pretending it's a nightmare _(or a dream,_ Lawrence whispers in her ear), because Jade went through the same thing and came out _so strong_.

She's only looking out for her little boy, after all.

Oliver Queen does not know what he has lost yet, but he will. Apollo will make sure of it.

/ **M'rgann M'orzz – 1 **

M'rgann is on Earth now, so he adopts an Earth name—Morgan, because it sound right, because it tastes _so good_ on his tongue—and an Earthly form—a male, because males are stronger and more useful, because he saw one on that _television_ show that his uncle sent him, and because he could _be_ something as a male. He follows his uncle around for a while, going unnoticed in light of other, _more important_ events, but grows bored.

Morgan is so _lonely_ here (like he was on Mars, though, how is this any different? Even with twelve brothers, you can be so alone…) without anyone in his mind, and it drives him mad_mad_**mad**. He wants to let go. So he does.

He releases his mind with a terrible scream in the middle of a desert, and collapses because _no one is answering_. That is how Psimon finds him, writhing in the dust and dirt, shuddering between his awful Martian form and his chosen human one.

Psimon _gently _and _gracefully _picks up his pieces and glues them together with blood, blood and bones and bruises. Morgan feels alive once again and continues the cycle.

_Sticks and stones may break my bones  
But blood and bruises will awake me._

A voice whispers in J'onn's ear that _something is not right_, but no matter how hard he searches, he cannot find its source.

/ **Rae Harper – 1 **

Rae Harper is a good girl. Sportsmaster finds her, 14 years old (still older than Apollo, Paula reminds herself), picking out of Oliver Queen's trash. He thinks that is so funny that he takes the tough redheaded girl home right away and tests her. Rae Harper passes all the tests, much to Apollo's dismay. Now Sportsmaster has someone _else_ to dote upon. Jade, in all of his usual weird creepiness, asks his father if _he_ can have Rae, and, of course, Lawrence says yes.

Jade takes her into his room that night and Paula sleeps soundly because Lawrence is in the bed next to her and Apollo is locked safely in his room.

Rae Harper becomes a permanent part of their family, donning the name Red Arrow and abandoning the one 'Speedy,' which she claims Green Arrow gave her when they last fought. Sportsmaster approves.

So does Jade.

Rae hates herself—hates her stupid adoptive father who couldn't deal with her heroin addiction, hates her fucking _skills_ with the bow and arrow, but most of all hates her own vulnerability that somehow got her dragged into the den of the Cheshire Cat. Everything is ripped from her now, but there's a possibility she can save someone along the way.

Rae stares at the wall that separates Jade and Apollo's rooms with all the intensity she can muster, ignoring the lithe arm thrown over her side and the hot breath against her neck.

_If I could be better  
I would be  
But I don't know any other way  
And you forgot to help me_


	2. To A Woman So Heartless

**A/N:** _Same triggers and disclaimers apply._

* * *

/ **Willow West – 2**

It is by chance that Will (_Inertia.__**WillowWest**__.Inertia_) comes across Giggles. They hit it off right away.

In order to escape the police, and possibly the Flash (_Uncle Barry?_), she races to Gotham, purposely getting lost in the winding alleys. Shadows leap at her,

_They smell_

but she is not scared because she knows that the shadows are the safest place to hide. Even in her bright costume, she knows that. Will stumbles once, and stutters to a stop, a gaze pricking the back of her head like

_of summertime_

a needle. Inertia glances around, perpetually smiling in the wake of a superb sprint across cities, across states She does not notice the perpetrator until she reveals herself.

Will has heard of Giggles. Giggles has heard of Inertia. They stare at each other.

"Um," Will starts, awkwardly tugging on a strand of bright red hair, "Hi?"

Giggles is still _looking _at her, face masked under layers of makeup, the only recognizable feature two brilliant blue eyes.

"What are you doing in Gotham?" Giggles chuckles, sounding all at once mysterious and conniving and absolutely _slick_. Will's interest is _more _than piqued.

"I- I was running from the Flash. Zoom told me to go wherever I wanted—so I came here," she explains, eyes on her other girl, who circles her suspiciously, but unobtrusively, "I really don't mean to infringe on your city or anything. I don't plan on doing any crime while I'm here."

Giggles laughs again, and it sends _sparks_ throughout Will's body. She feels like she's on fire

_when it has just rained_

in the best possible way. A flush creeps up her freckly cheeks, and it's not because of the cold dampness in the alley or because she's a little out of breath from running so hard.

"Then what _are_ you planning to do?" The tiny girl asks, and she sounds so _interested_.

Will shrugs. She has no idea. "I guess… I'm just going to chill, or something." Giggles peeks at her from around shorn black hair. Will smiles.

Giggles licks her lips

_on an old bonfire_

and inquires, "Wanna meet _the Joker_?"

Will nods and giggles.

_of flesh._

_Where is my home, again?_

/ **The Joker – 1 **

This _Inertia_ is silly, the Joker thinks, eyeing the brightly costumed villain as she plays games with his precious little girl. He likes her. So does Harley, but Harley doesn't count.

Giggles has made a friend and he _approves_. Right now they're sitting there, the exquisite things, and Inertia has vibrated her hand through poor Mr. Thomas Brown's stomach. She's wiggling her fingers in his ribs and asking, "Does this tickle, Mr. Fickle?" That draws a giggle from darling Giggles and the Joker feels _good_.

"Harley," he says, tapping his fingers on the desk before him, "Our Dixie is growing up."

Harley flounces up to him, already in her lingerie, and agrees, "It's _so_ cute, Mistah Jay!" He feels an odd thrill of fondness for his Harley, and grabs her to him. She makes a squeaking sound and hangs on.

"Darn right it is! We should keep her. My little girl only deserves happiness, of course!" Harley gazes at him, love struck by his utter generosity. The Joker leans forward and bites her mouth, gaining a squeal.

He looks over to Inertia and Giggles. Thomas Brown is dead and they are dissecting him.

"For science," he hears Inertia say, "I don't believe in magic." Giggles watches her with baby blue eyes.

"Me neither." His cherished child replies.

The Joker has never been so proud in his entire life, and before Inertia leaves, he hands her a small stuffed animal—a Robin (its Dixie's favorite animal)—with a tracer inside. Will laughs with glee and kisses him on the cheek shouting, "A souvenir! Thanks Mr. Joker, sir!"

_Where is my mind, again?_

/ **Zoom/Willow – 1/3 **

When Willow comes home, gasping about Gotham and Giggles, Eobard knows that everything is going to be okay. This is so perfect and he's so pleased with her.

So, he gathers her in his arms and kisses the freckles on her face to show his love. Will pretends to hate it, but he can see the adoration glowing in her eyes. She pats him on the head and he feels _special_. (This is _Barry Allen's_ niece! A living souvenir!)

They go to bed shortly after (although not before eating the stolen cakes from the day before), and Willow crawls toward him, green eyes alight with passion and fierceness and says,

_I am crippled_

"Mr. Joker was really nice. He even gave me a souvenir!" She holds the little robin close to her chest, and smiles widely at him. Eobard's face crinkles in a returning grin.

_by my own mind_

"How wonderful. Come sleep with your uncle, now, sweetie." Will nods and cuddles close to his side. Zoom's breathing evens out, but Willow's does not. For the rest of the night she lays there, face pressed to her 'uncle's' side, eyes wide open, thinking about Dixie. She can't wait to see her again.

_by my own legs_

Maybe next time they can dissect a woman. That would be really fun.

_stuck here, in limbo_

In Gotham, Dixie dreams of the same things that Willow thinks about.

_caught between the spider's web_

The Joker plans his next heist, and Harley attempts to seduce him. He doesn't hit her because he is in an _awfully_ good mood.

_and the lion's den_

Zoom dreams about Barry Allen, blueberry pie, and life in the future in the past.

_captured in a story where both  
are equally as horrible._

_Where is my heart, again?_

/ **Kalda – 2 **

Kalda explores the surface world with a certain _charming_ curiosity that attracts all kinds of people. After she kills them, they cannot say anything or give her away, and it feels so _good_.

She is obedient, but sometimes she likes to do things for herself.

_That is not the way he trained me to be._

Kalda hitchhikes most of the way to Star City, and walks the rest. People notice her, bare feet and all, but Kalda ignores them. Star City awaits.

Black Manta gave her one mission before she left, and she intends to fulfill it.

_I can finally be free._

Once inside the city, Kalda curls up outside of an aquarium and waits for morning. She is disturbed, unfortunately, by a family.

They slide, distinctly quiet (she has been trained to notice such things), into the aquarium and kill the caretaker (she does not stop them, does not care, because now she can return these animals to where they belong), and then they leave.

The girl notices her first. Kalda only notices the girl because she is so obviously _not part of the family_.

_My hands have touched blood._

The girl does not say anything, not of Kalda's luminous eyes and strange tattoos, and not of her odd grace. Kalda refrains from killing her for this.

She settles down to sleep once more, and is interrupted. The girl has slipped into the alley with food. Kalda can smell it—it smells wonderful. All she has eaten lately are the disgusting things she finds in the trash.

"Sh," the girl whispers, "I have food. I don't want to hurt you."

Kalda knows this. She can simply tell. But she does not say so.

"Thank you," she replies, and accepts the food, "My name is Kalda'ahm, but I am also Mantalass."

The girl nods, auburn hair catching in the moonlight. She is made of tough, thick lines and scars and blood.

_My hands have shed the blood._

"My name is Rae Harper, but _everyone_," Kalda knows, by the way Rae spits out the word that everyone means her not-family, "Calls me Red Arrow."

"I will call you Rae, or Red, if you prefer," she says regally, "And you can call me Kal, if you like."

Rae's eyes, masked in white, narrow imperceptibly, "Alright, Kal. Deal. Call me Rae, though, please. Listen, I won't tell my _father_ about you if you don't tell anyone about me, okay?"

Kalda nods. "Of course, Rae." She says _father_ the same way Kalda thinks it. "Would you be willing to free the animals for me?"

Red somehow stiffens and relaxes at the same time—her shoulders are broad for a girl, but her mouth is full and feminine—and then smiles.

"Sounds fun."

They kill the remaining guards and free the animals, Kalda taking it upon herself to release them into the ocean. She turns to her new friend. Her _only_ friend, truly.

"Will you help me find someone?"

Rae says yes.

_Where is my soul, again?_

/ **Rebecca – 2**

Dixie never has nightmares. She only has dreams. Mostly, they are about Tony Zucco

_His cracked spine_

and some of them are about Batman. Then, she starts dreaming about Willow. These aren't even dreams, not really. Usually her dreams are beautiful and dark

_clutching, clawing hands_

like Gotham, but ones with Willow in them are bright and sunny. They have trees and birds and a breeze. They have robins. Dixie does her best not to giggle much in these dreams because then the illusion is shattered and she

_intestines spilled all over the floor_

is herself again, instead of Willow's-self. Willow tells her one day, while sitting on Daddy's floor and playing with some _clown's_ entrails, that she, too, has dreams about Dixie. But they aren't really dreams, she says, because she's never sleeping when she has them. Will only has nightmares when she sleeps.

'_Clean it up!' She giggles, 'Clean it up all by yourself!'_

Daddy is extremely pleased with Giggles' new friendship, and it makes him all soft and cuddly. Sometimes he even lets Mommy kiss him, which makes Dixie super happy. The only thing that truly upsets him nowadays are incompetent minions ("That word sounds like _onions_," Inertia shrieks one day, "We should make onion spray and mix it with the giggle gas so that people can _laugh_ and _cry _at the same time!"), when Batman doesn't bother to show up, and 'stupid fuckers' as he calls them. 'Stupid fuckers' seems to apply to most people, though. But Dixie loves her daddy. Just like (maybe not _just_ like, if Willow's whimpers in her sleep are anything to go by) how Will loves her uncle.

Giggles met Zoom shortly after meeting her best friend forever, and while her daddy and Zoom chatted, she and Willow discussed plans to kidnap Miss Barbara Gordon and have fun with her. Barbara is Dixie's favorite next to Willow.

Willow herself likes someone named Hartley.

'_Don't get blood on the carpet!'_

Zoom was nice enough, and seemed as pleased with their friendship as daddy did, so Dixie approved of him. Now, though, as Willow curls up next to her, Giggles wishes she could keep the other girl _forever_. With Zoom around, Inertia always has to leave, eventually. It sucks.

But Dixie bites her lip and takes it because sometimes she has to leave with daddy, and daddy doesn't like waiting. Luckily, Willow is _super_**super** fast.

She's still in a daze, a few days later, thinking about Inertia and the _dream_ she had last night, when Batman comes around.

'_Bats don't scare me!'_

She fights him, of course, twisting through the air with ease and avoiding his hits while spraying the laughing-crying gas all over the place. He is mostly unaffected, which is boring. Before she can escape and before daddy or mommy comes to rescue her, Dixie tells him so.

"Booooooring," she sings, giggling at him through the makeup coated all over her face, "You are boring, Mr. Bats." She flutters eyelashes at him and he grunts in surprise when daddy shoots him in the back.

Dixie flips out of Batman's arms with ease and twirls away, giggling up a storm. Some poor, stupid fucker that entered the alley at the wrong time chokes on the cloud of chuckles and tears and then on his own blood and spit. Giggles leans down and slices him open, thinking about Willow while she does so.

'_Ha! Hahahahaha!'_

Later that week, Will receives a _real human heart_ in the mail, along with another plushy, this time a bat. She laughs long and hard, holding the heart in her hands and licking her lips in fascination.

_Where is my fear, again?_

/ **Apollo – 2**

Apollo doesn't like Rae, but that's okay because Rae doesn't like Apollo either. He blames her for Jade's disappearance, which made her father really unhappy. So unhappy that Apollo spent most of his nights in the _room_, hunched around himself as his father (_is he really a father if he does this to you?_) pushed in and out, in and out.

Rae disappears too, sometimes, but only Apollo notices because it's always at night. He doesn't know what she does, but he probably doesn't _want _to know, either. Finally, father stops being so angry all the time and rewards Apollo with ice cream, which makes his mother happy, too.

Apollo loves his mother.

_Even if she does nothing. Even if she never will do anything._

Rae gets punished a lot more, but for some reason she still smiles a lot, too. Apollo doesn't know why, but he also doesn't care. As long as the punishment isn't his to bear.

He goes out one night, all by himself, just to get away for a bit, and comes across something beautiful—the Justice League. Black Canary and Green Arrow are in an alley taking care of some drug dealers Apollo recognizes as being part of Bane's company. He eavesdrops on their conversation after they take them out.

"We have to tell the others about the aquarium." Black Canary says. Black Canary is lovely, and destroyable. But truthfully, Apollo would rather kill someone like her quickly. He is not the sadistic mess Jade is.

"It can wait. Batman is busy dealing with the Joker—he escaped Arkham _again_, did you know? And the Flash has been having a lot of trouble with Professor Zoom and Inertia." Green Arrow replies. Even though Apollo hates Green Arrow with a burning, bubbling passion, he feels no necessity to kill him. Jade would. Rae might. His father wouldn't hesitate. His mother would.

"Yes, but," Black Canary purses her lips and glances around, "I don't want to get into this here. But we _do_ have to discuss it. There's a press conference in a few days and if we don't have an answer for the aquarium killing, then the people will go ballistic." Black Canary, at least, is smart. Apollo almost admires her.

_But that's been beaten out of him._

"I know," Green Arrow sighs, "I know. Honestly, I don't know _what _we're going to tell them. That Sportsmaster is back? They'll go ballistic anyways!" Apollo stiffens.

They know. They know that his father and his mother are back in the city and it's only a matter of time before they figure out that Apollo and Cheshire and Red Arrow have been helping them. He has to tell his father.

Apollo slips away, races back to the house, and does. His father is, surprisingly, overtly satisfied with his findings, and does not punish him that night. Instead, Sportsmaster sneaks into Rae's room.

Apollo muffles the grunts with his pillow and winces into an uneasy rest.

_Where is my innocence, again?_

/ **Rae Harper – 2**

Rae meets Willow and Dixie on a Sunday, just inside Star City, while she is searching for Kalda. She is walking around the various alleys to get to the warehouse where they agreed to meet when she hears it. Two melodious female voices, one giggling between every breath and the other too loud for the quiet, stop her in her tracks. Rae waits.

"Thanks for the heart," the louder one says, almost shyly, "I really loved it." The giggly one stops giggling for a second.

"You're welcome. Daddy said it was a wonderful, thoughtful present and he really thought you'd appreciate it. I'm glad to see he was right." The other replies, sounding _so close_ _to sane_ for a moment, that Rae second guesses herself.

"It was!" The other gasps, earnest in all the wrong ways. "I just wish I had something equally… perfect to give you. Something you could treasure as well."

They giggle together for a few more seconds before a _wet moan_ resonates from the alley. Rae tenses.

"Sh," one of them comforts, "You wouldn't want to wake anyone, would you, pretty?" Oh. They're talking to someone else. Rae peeks around the wall and her eyes widen.

There, in the alley, are Giggles (no _wonder_ there was so much laughing!) and Inertia, arched over the body of a woman on the ground. Giggles is holding a knife, slimy with blood from cuts all across the woman's abdomen and Inertia clutches a pair of scissors, also drenched in blood. There are a few jars on the ground beside her.

Giggles looks up and meets her eyes.

"Hey, Will," Giggles declares, "Look!" Inertia's head whips around at the speed of light, and Rae finds herself frozen in the face of glassy baby blues and electric green eyes. Then, confidence gathering in the pit of her stomach and staining her insides black, Rae steps forward, grinning darkly.

"I can show you a better way," she offers to Inertia at the sight of the red-haired girl's scissors about to slice off the woman's lungs, "If you'll let me."

Inertia glances at Giggles excitedly, who beams in return.

"That sounds great," Inertia breaths, reverence staining her sigh, "Really great."

Giggles nods.

"What're your names?" Rae asks as she crouches down. "Mine's Rae, but you can call me Red—for Red Arrow."

Giggles' eyes glitter. "Giggles or Dixie is fine." She says, still smiling.

Inertia shrugs, "I like to be called Will. My real names' Willow—but that sounds so stupid and old, you know?"

Rae doesn't, not really (she thinks Willow is a beautiful name), but nods nonetheless. She accepts another pair of scissors from Dixie, and teaches them.

_Where is my compassion, again?_


	3. Travel the Seven Seas

**A/N: **_Hopefully I'll continue having short breaks only between chapters (I'm really bad with that). Anyways, I hope you enjoy this and feedback, comments, or anything of the sort is always appreciated! Same warnings/triggers apply. I do not own Young Justice (if I did... well, the second season would be WAY different). _

/ **Kalda – 3**

Rae shows up covered in an enormous amount of blood, and Kalda doesn't even have to say anything. The other girl

_The stronger one_

grins widely and tells her that there are some people she should meet. Kalda _does _want to meet more people, so she agrees, immediately. A small smirk adorns Rae's face at this _instantaneousness_, and Kalda pretends that it's not because Rae gets off on her being _obedient_. Rae is nothing like her _father_.

_The smarter one_

They go on another hunt, searching for someone, _anyone_ to take down. Their prey of choice becomes a drug dealer and a druggie. They take them out, quickly and easily. Neither are able to struggle much, and Kalda feels a note of _something_ pluck inside her at the magnificent _astuteness _of the kill. Humans are so _fragile_, they break like glass, and when they shatter, they make the most _captivating_ sounds. She loves it.

_The faster one_

Humans are weak—breakable—except for Rae. Rae is forever grisly and harsh, a flashlight in a dark room, steadfastly callous and yet close enough to compassionate that it doesn't matter.

Rae kisses her, once, before she leaves, grabbing Kalda's shirt and pressing their lips together with a ferocity that both terrifies and delights her. Then, Star City's ravager saunters away and Kalda slinks back into non-existence once again. She can't wait to meet more _people_.

_Where is my bravery, again?_

/ **Kryptongirl – 1**

They made her

_**helpmehelpmehelpme**_

but they left her

_**savemesavemesaveme**_

and they forsook her.

_**whereami?**_

It is cold here,

_**tooclosetooclosetooclose**_

cold and dark and she is all alone.

_**Please? Someone? Anyone?**_

And she is _so angry_.

_Why would you do this?_

/ **Morgan Morse – 2**

Sometimes, Psimon will creep into his mind and fill it with these _feelings_. They make M'rgann's heart burn

_But he doesn't have a heart, right?_

and his hands clench and send him into a foreign body where he is trapped within white, white walls. M'rgann learns, soon enough, not to question Psimon, or all of those _feelings_ will come back and then… he'll be trapped. He _hates_ feelings.

There is a level of enthrallment with _humans_, of course, who _feel so much_. He doesn't understand how they aren't all completely _mad_. Psimon assures him, almost daily, that most are.

'_Mad,' he says, 'Mad with power, with overwhelming sorrow, with passion.'_

'_It happens to everyone,' he tells him fondly._

So, in order to stay sane, M'rgann transforms himself. He dons a human mask, white skin with cute_cute_**cute** freckles (_bones_), red hair (_blood_), and brown eyes with sleepy rings under them, just for character (_bruises_). He knows how to play a character. He continues to use his human name, _Morgan Morse_, which still makes his tongue tingle. The name tastes like dirt and paper, and Morgan absolutely _savors_ it.

But, he does not gather a heart inside himself, or a soul, or passion, or power, or sorrow. Instead, he separates himself into Morgan and _loneliness_, two entities in the same being—one adorable in the most conventional ways, and one hideous and _white_.

_This mind is locking him up._

_(The stronger one)_

He attends a human school and makes some friends (fake ones, of course), and plays football and watches TV. Then, at night, he creeps out, sometimes with Psimon, sometimes on his own, and snaps the neck of mad_mad_**mad** human beings, pathetically trapped in their poor, sad bodies. He is freeing them.

_This body is shutting him down._

_(The smarter one)_

And he dreams, when he sleeps, he dreams. He has _visions_—a hint of black hair and _brilliant laughter_ there, a flash of flaming red and swiftness here, a peek at golden skin and radiant eyes, a glance of _pure strength_, a sliver of arrows and a green-clad body—and they are stunning and gory. The bodies hit the bricks coated in red, red, black blood and new holes.

_This earth is holding him close._

_(The faster one)_

He also has nightmares—of Mars and of his brothers—but they are not _disturbing _nightmares, they are simply _turbing _nightmares (where did that word come from again? Oh yes, his dream…). His brothers stand around him sometimes, or he'll catch a glimpse of his mother, and his mind will be filled to the brim. Too full. M'rgann has learned to like this emptiness.

_This sky is beating him up._

_(Where is my family, again?)_


	4. In a Beautiful World

**A/N: **_The first part has heavier stuff. **TRIGGERS: implied non-consensual sexual relations between a minor and an adult who are related.** It really isn't graphic, but it is pretty sad. It was hard to write. Everything else is pretty normal, though. Anyways, reviews are always appreciated!_

/ **Apollo – 3**

The first time his father forced him onto the bed, he was eleven. He had been seven when it was Jade's turn.

_There is a bed in this room_

It was also the first time he went out on an actual mission. Sportsmaster took orders from _someone_, although Apollo didn't have the knowledge of _who_. He'd been so excited. His mother was quietly happy for him, if a little tense, and Apollo hadn't understood it at the time. He did now. He wishes, always, that he had never gone that day, had never begged to go.

_it is his bed_

But he did. They crept through Star City, Apollo's bow notched with an arrow, and his father practically glistening with the amount of weaponry he carried. Apollo killed someone that day.

_and this is his first time_

He remembers it _so clearly_—it is a stamp on his mind, embedded within his personality. His first kill shapes almost everything about his character today. Apollo knows that.

The men they were attacking had money that his father wanted, and he went blindly forward, into the fray. Sportsmaster engaged some of the guards in hand-to-hand combat while Apollo waited nervously on the side.

_somehow, it is always his first time_

His father motioned for him to join in. Apollo took a breath

_creaking_

and raised his bow

_rocking_

and pulled his arm back

_groaning_

and released.

_smothering_

The man died

_caressing_

in slow motion,

_hurting_

the squelching of the arrow

_burning_

was so loud in his ears

_crying_

as it went

_groaning_

through the head.

_Are daddies supposed to do this?_

His father was so proud. Apollo wasn't, not really, but did not hesitate to murder again.

_Mommy?_

Apollo became the puppeteer. He cut their strings off, so all they could do was lay on the ground, lifeless.

_Please help, mommy!_

He was a child then, and did not understand that they

_Mommy!_

would never

_It hurts!_

get up

_Please stop…_

again.

_It hurts._

Apollo knows that now. He also knows what happens, night after night, to him, to Jade, sometimes to his mother, [to Rae], and he hates it. But he cannot stop it, he cannot leave. He does not have the strength or the hope or the intelligence.

_This is all I have left._

_Where is my faith, again?_

/ **Kryptongirl – 2 **

The genomorphs keep _saying_ something, but she does not know what it is. Inside here, inside of this _thing_, there is no sound, there are no words. Instead, she follows their lips when they speak and wishes_wishes_**wishes** she could hear something, anything.

She can't.

_Rage bubbles like a ram_

Sometimes they shut her down, make her fall asleep, even when she isn't tired (she _never_ is, not with how she's cooped up _here_, _alone_). She can only read one word off of their lips, and that's because they use it so often.

"Her **programming** is not complete." She can only be sure of the one word.

_piercing her chest_

The man, _that_ man, he… comes to check on her **progress**. At least, that's what she thinks they're saying. He is bald and large and there is something inherently **ugly** about him, but when he looks at her, she thinks maybe there is a flicker of pride in there—a flicker of _something_. Something genomorphs do not have.

_telling her she will never be good enough for him_

Part of her _hates_ him, _loathes_ him,_ despises_ him, but another part of her wants to make him proud. So proud that he'll let her out. She knows he's the only one who can, she just knows.

She doesn't have a name. She wants one.

_she will never be good enough_

Maybe… he can give her one?

_will never be __**good**_

If she's… a good girl?

_Where is my identity, again?_

/ **Dixie – 3 **

They disobey orders, but there's a _good_ reason for it. She knows daddy will forgive her.

And now, _hacking the motion sensors_, Dixie cannot bring herself to care. This is too… awesome. Will taught her that word—_awe_ and _some_ (a little bit of [awe] (as in _aw_ful) and [_some_])—and she loves it. Uses it every day. Mommy bought her a dictionary filled with more _awesome_ words the other day. Dixie likes to make up words of her own, and daddy approves. Dixie likes it when daddy approves.

She remembers

_when he didn't_

others who dismayed him

_she was punished_

but they are all gone now

_it hurt so much_

only the Darkest Knight of all Knights

_it hurt so __**good**_

remains to carry on a legacy

_but DADDY hates scarring_

of those who disappointed

_her pretty skin_

the Joker.

'_Don't do it again, my doll.' He coos._

And Batman has never truly _disappointed_ her daddy. Everyone else has, though. That's why daddy plays with him so—to see how long he can _not_ dissatisfy. It's a wonderful game. Giggles likes to play it too.

As soon as the doors open, Inertia zooms in, and Dixie follows her. Kalda trails behind them, more wary and careful, but still_ excited_ (she can taste it). Rae… did not show up.

They take down guards (_Luthor's_ guards, but he'll grow to appreciate this) and weird, cute little morphy things that make Giggles giggle _really loudly_ and Kalda freak out a bit.

Will rushes into the room before them, and finds _her,_ the person they've been _looking_ for, the one they have _dreams_ about (wellexceptforRae). She's beautiful.

When she wakes up, though, she is angry. That, too, is gorgeous. Dixie is drowning in it. Will is too, she can tell, and when the _girlkryptongirlsupergirl _pins Kalda to the ground, Dixie knows they've come to a decision. They offer her a way out.

_Where is my destiny, again?_


	5. Fragile as a Dream

**A/N: **_Thank you to all those who commented, they are much appreciated! I have tons of this written, but the editing process is long and I'm filling it at a faster pace on the yj_anon_meme. However, thanks for putting up with the waits in between. I don't own Young Justice._

/ **Kryptongirl – 3**

They offer her a way out. She stares at the lovely, milky hand before her, the face caked in makeup with two glowing orbs of eyes peering out and oil-slick black hair and a tiny, _tiny_ breakable body, and glares in _awe_.

There is another one, equally as wonderful and new and different, with little dots (_freckles_, her mind supplies) all over and a brilliant, electric green gaze, smiling so prettily, like the **moon** and the** sun** combined, and hair like **fire**.

The third is _dark gold_ threaded with _aquamarine _and she _glows everywhere_. She, too, is amazing. She wants to go with them and because she never gets what she wants, so she decides to be selfish and _does_ go with them.

_They are like paintings from another world, another life._

The fire-moon-sun one grins sharply, showing off incisors bloodied from when she bit off the good Doctor's nose, and says

"_I promise you the moon, Kryptongirl."_

**Kryptongirl** believes her.

When they escape, she sees it, luminous like **Kalda'ahm's **eyes, encrusted with white like **Giggles or Dixie's** face, _promising_ like **Inertia or Willow or Will's** words.

_Where is my hate, again?_

/ **Willow – 4**

Zoom is _angry_, but not angry enough. Kryptongirl, their new friend who punches people in the face with enough force to send her fist straight through their head, demands that they stay together. Willow is adamant about this as well. She knows Dixie wants it too, and knows that Kalda is lonely enough to agree to just about anything.

The Joker is a little irritated as well, but when he sees the amount of blood that drips from their clothes his lips turn up into a smile. He's proud, she can tell, of Dixie, and maybe even of Will.

Black Manta actually left the ocean to be here, and Kalda is blushing and bowing because of it. He does not look upset, instead he seems contented that she has made friends and has been following his orders to a T. A light feeling bursts in Will's chest at her friend's happiness.

_Flash_

She rushes to Zoom, pushing aside Lex Luthor (who looks more amused than anything, eyeing his creation calculatingly) in order to beg forgiveness of her mentor.

"Uncle," she stutters, "I, I'm sorry if I've made you unhappy. You can punish me if you like," she bites her lips and flutters her eyelashes at him, "But I really want this. _Please_, uncle?" She pouts like Dixie taught her to, big green eyes sad and fixated on _her uncle's_ face.

Zoom relaxes. "Of course, my darling," he says, "You can have anything you want. I just want you to be safe and happy. There is no punishment necessary for discovering a friend." Will beams and kisses him on the cheek, which makes him exuberant, usually.

_where_

Dixie claps her hands together from where she is attached to Mr. Joker's hip and giggles. The Joker's smile widens even more, grotesque in theory, but utterly handsome in Willow's mind. She can see what Ms. Harley sees in him.

Lex Luthor steps forward, clearing his throat. Mr. Joker's eyes narrow subtly, and Willow only notices because Dixie does.

"I must admit," Lex, _the human one_, begins, "That I never imagined my creation," he throws a careless hand in Kryptongirl's direction, "Would be revealed in such a way, but I cannot say that I am displeased with the results."

Kalda steps forward and announces, "We want to be a team. This is important to us. We can become better villains if we team up and _learn_ together. Also, Mr. Luthor, _your creation's_ name is Kryptongirl. We'll come up with a real name for her eventually, of course, but for now that will have to do."

Black Manta is positively beaming at her leadership skills, and while jealousy splatters in her insides like a ruptured gut, Will thinks that maybe, just maybe, Kal is the right leader for them.

_are_

Dixie does a cartwheel from where she stands, and then runs into Inertia's arms. Will hugs her back.

"We can be something," Giggles whispers in her ear.

"We can." She murmurs back. It's perfect.

_you_

They race up to Kalda and embrace her from behind. Will can hear Kryptongirl's huff of envy, and so she gently detaches herself from Dixie and Kal and grabs the clone (_Superman's clone_) in her arms. Their bodies press against each other completely, and Will buries her head in Kryptongirl's invulnerable neck. Their breasts squish together, their hips collide awkwardly, their legs entwine clumsily. It is the first hug Kryptongirl has ever received.

_now?_

"You gave me the moon." She breathes against Willow's back and neck. Will shudders.

"So I did." And she smiles.

_Where is my affection, again?_

/ **Morgan – 3**

Psimon tells him that he has a choice.

'_You have a choice.'_

He can join _others_ like him, better than normal humans, or simply… less **mad** than most humans. He doesn't have to be quite as lonely anymore.

'_You don't have to be lonely.'_

M'rgann agrees immediately, and gathers his bioship with his mind. His lovely bioship. Psimon does not know of its existence and Morgan plans on keeping it that way.

'_You don't have to be afraid.'_

He leaves without saying goodbye because Psimon does not believe in goodbyes. No one on Mars did either.

'_You don't have to want.'_

He meets them, and he is finally complete. They are exactly like in his dreams, only better. Because they're real.

'_You don't have to need.'_

He loves _her _especially because he knows from the minute his mind licks_tastes_**swallows**hers, that they are the same. That they have always been the same. He wants to bond with her very _soul_, if she had one. If he had one.

'_You don't even have to change.'_

And the others—_the others_. He savors their thoughts, their essences, their pure insanity, and their ironic lucidity. They are _marvelous_. He wants to eat them, engulf them, consume them, and more. He wants them.

'_All you have to do…'_

And they want him. The fast one throws herself upon him, wriggles into his mold, and siphons the alien from his veins. The smart one coils around him, interlocks their bodies and their brains, and fills his lungs with the blood from his veins. The calm one _inches_ along him, piercing his skin with her teeth, and pulling out his loneliness with her fangs. He has never been so comprehensive.

'_is continue __**to be**__.'_

_She _doesn't have to do any of this. And the others understand this, innately. They were made for each other.

But he's missing the blond one.

'_There is no right or wrong here.'_

He smiles.

He will come to them soon.

'_There is only __**us**__.'_

_Your home is here._


	6. Rattling Bones

**A/N:** _Thank you to anyone who commented, favorited, or story alerted! **Warnings:** underage lesbian smut. Not very graphic, but you never know. Hope you like it and comments are always appreciated!_

/ **Apollo – 4 **

His mother produces an escape. Jade is gone.

_Where are you, my brother?_

Rae has disappeared.

_Where are you, my sister?_

Father is furious.

_Where are you, my father?_

His mother lets him escape.

_I see you, my mother._

Apollo finds the base with ease, shrugging of the tail his father sends after him effortlessly because the tail is a moron. He enters the base with ease as well, but knows that's only because they want him there.

Well, except for the redhead.

Giggles greets him, face as incongruously plastered in maquillage as the newspaper photographs show. She, of course, is giggling. He accepts her handshake, but shies away from the lick she attempts to give his face. That's a little too close for comfort. _Dixie_, as she tells him to call her, has cropped black hair falling around her face, cute little bangs, and glittering baby blues that pull you into a world of rainbows and shooting stars. They are the eyes of a liar, and her body is that of a child: lithe, thin, and underdeveloped. She appears to be flimsy, constructed from glass, but that, too, is a falsehood, she is, in reality, made from diamonds, jagged, shimmering diamonds.

_Please believe me when I say,_

The leader serenely clasps his hand in hers (and boy is she _striking_), and kisses his cheek. Kalda'ahm, Mantalass, is a _soldier_ full of knowledge and wisdom that Apollo can never hope to know. He can tell she, too, has suffered greatly at the hands of her _father_. Her skin is a mix of charcoal and gold, her eyes are the silver slits of stars, her hair is curly-cue cornrows of sand. Kalda's body is strong, so strong, and so brave, standing there with all the quiet confidence that the moon hangs with in the air.

_that I have no choice,_

Kryptongirl, who does not have a name as of yet, is the kind of beauty that radiates, similar to the handsome that Superman emits. Her hair is shiny and black, pulled into a careless ponytail, yet effortlessly gorgeous, like the night sky. Her eyes are sharp, icy orbs of perfection that can burn and freeze in the same breath, and her body is rounded with curves and sharpened with muscle. He feels weak merely clasping her hand.

_but to do these things,_

Martian Minor is the newest member, but the most enthusiastic. It is a fake, yet almost sincere, eagerness that can only be portrayed after years of feeling _absolutely nothing_. He does not judge the only other boy on the team for it. Green-skinned and attractive in the most oddly _plain_ way, what with his reddish hair and vaguely reddish eyes, Morgan Morse (he begs them to call him this) is completely normal. Except he is an alien. Apollo tries to wrap his head around that one when Morgan hugs him.

_these horrible things,_

The last one seems a tad grumpy to him, which is odd because Inertia is known for her smile, but Apollo is attracted to the glint of red curls, the endless, shapely legs, and shocking green of her eyes. Her freckles dance across a pert nose, and Apollo _wants to kiss them_. She is a bundle of unadulterated impulse and adrenaline, of energy wrapped in pretty birthday paper. Willow does not like him. But she will, given time. Apollo will make sure of that.

_because I have been __**conditioned**__ to do so._

He is welcomed, later, officially, allowed into their bed. Willow continues to avoid him, clinging incessantly to Giggles and Morgan, but Apollo knows that she will _love_ him. She simply has to.

_Your mind is here. _

/ **Dixie – 4**

It's just her and Willow, now, alone on the bed. The others took a mission, but left them behind because Will's ankle is sprained badly (_stupid Captain Adam!_) and Dixie wanted to take care of her. Right now, though, Will's taking care of _her_.

_Giggles!_

They lie on the bed, and Dixie's back is pressing into the mattress. Willow squirms above her, straddling her middle, eyes gleaming like precious stones in the starlight that filters through their window.

_Giggles?_

Dixie shudders underneath her, fingers clawing at the sheets in desperation as Will's fingers gently pry her apart, vibrating against her core _deliciously_. She's so close that her insides _swell_ with it, swell with the scent and touch and thought of Willow_Willow_**Willow **all over.

_Dixie!_

She's naked, and her tiny thirteen year old body, with her breasts still blossoming, legs still lengthening, and everything else in between is _aching_ with development. It's a human body, utterly and wholly human, like those women and men and children and aliens they took apart in alleys or in her daddy's homes. But right now, she feels like an angel. Right now, with Will _inside _of her with _humming_ fingertips, licking up her neck, kissing her lips _ohsogently_, nibbling her ear, she feels absolutely _ethereal_.

_Dixie?_

Finally, she comes, releasing with a small gasp, biting down on her lip. Will **giggles** in her ear. Dixie reaches up to touch her own face, free of makeup for once, and revels at the feel of smooth, creamy, milky, _touchable_ skin. Her mouth is bare, bruised only from sweet kisses and tender biting and affectionate licking. The scars that extend from the corners are barely noticeable because Will spent a lot of time caressing those, too. They've gone numb.

_Rebecca!_

She flips them over so that her redheaded faerie is pinned beneath her, twitching with arousal and mischievousness. Dixie peels off Will's shirt, and unfastens her bra to reveal mounds of freckly, pale breast. Grinning, Giggles leans forward and laps at one nipple. Will moans and thrusts her hips up, peering up through long red eyelashes with those eyes to plead with her. She doesn't have to say a word.

_Rebecca?_

"Dixie," Willow moans as Giggles dexterous fingers wiggle under her waistband and find her warmth, "_Please._"

Dixie's eyes widen, azure unmarred by clumps of nasty, oily white paste, because no one _ever_ says please to _her_. It's wonderful.

_Rebecca Mary!_

Her fingers roll and twist inside the older girl, and Will yelps and sighs and shudders with joy at the feeling. Dixie can tell she's getting close because her entire form _throbs_, from the tips of her toes to the ringlets bouncing around her face. Dixie tries even harder.

_Rebecca Mary?_

"_Rebecca_…" Willow exhales, breathing heavily now, and trembling with the proximity of her climax. Dixie shivers at the name and flicks at her girl's clit.

"You're so beautiful." Rebecca tells her, tapping and circling away. "So beautiful, and you're all mine. Always mine. Right, Willow?" She leans down and captures Will's reddened lips.

"Yes, _yes_!" Will cries. "Always yours. Forever. Iloveyou." She blurts out as she comes, convulsing and quaking underneath Dixie. It feels so good.

_Rebecca Mary Grayson?_

_Is that her name?_

"I love you, too," Dixie breathes against her treasured speedster's hair. And she does. She loves her.

They fall asleep together, naked except for the sheets, legs entwined and fingers interlaced, not bothering to wait up for the others.

They would come, and when they did, Dixie and Will would reward them for their good work and the night off.

Will does not have nightmares anymore, Dixie makes sure of that.

_Your heart is here. _

/ **Rae – 3 **

She left because she had to. Instead of destroying Oliver Queen, like originally planned, Rae joins him. But she cannot tell her friends that. Ollie, as he implores her to call him, has a plan, and all he needs is an inside _guy_, and he chooses _her_. He may not know what he's done, in the past—indirectly to her future—but he is making amends for it now. Rae does not hate him so much now that she is far, far away from _Lawrence_.

But Ollie is not the reason she becomes a better person.

_In the forest, there lies a monster,_

Perhaps it is because of Dinah, or Black Canary, that she does. Dinah looks at her with all the tender sincerity of a _mother_, in a way that Paula could never even attempt. Dinah helps her understand herself, sits her down and talks with her and _learns about her_. It is… nice to know, at least, that there is a reason she's so fucked up.

But Rae misses Kalda.

_hidden beneath the leaves and behind the trees,_

Maybe Kalda is her motive. Resilient Kalda who only wants to _understand_ and _be understood_. Rae could give her that in a way Dixie and Willow will never be able to.

Rae remembers her now, shining in the moonlight, reflected off the water, on a dock where they swapped spit and made love for hours. Rae taught her everything about being human, about living on the surface world and Kalda returned her kindness with simply _being_.

But, for all their flaws, Rae also misses Dixie and Willow.

_who slithers out and snatches up the children,_

There's a possibility she's doing this for them.

Dixie, swathed with Gotham's shadows and obsessed with Gotham's bats, who laughed and laughed until she broke her vocal chords and could do no more. Dixie, who through it all, still retains the slightest sliver of innocence. It gleams, sometimes, in those _**bat**__shit_ crazy eyes, but that little gleam haunts the recesses of Rae's essence.

And Willow. Will. Her little sister and part-time lover, who gazes up at her with pools of admiration splashing around in her eyes, who loves so much she hates, who destroys everything she touches in less than an instant. Unless, of course, it is already destroyed. Like Dixie. Like Kalda. Like _Rae_.

She loves them.

_and returns them again, only broken._

Rae knows the truth, though. It's a little bit of all of them—Dinah, Kalda, Dixie, and Will—but it's _a lot_ of Apollo.

The little boy wrecked by his own father and his own mother and his own brother. The little boy whose whimpers sliced through Rae's heart and into her very being. The little boy who lied (and lies, and lies, and lies).

Rae loves him, but she cannot say why. They _dislike_ each other, personally. But Rae loves his soul. She thinks, maybe, that he can be saved.

She knows Kalda, Dixie, and Will cannot.

She does it for him.

_I was one of those children,_

So she goes back, departs from Sportsmaster officially and proclaims her status as a separate villain. Almost a kinder one, but no one notices because she can still make it _look_ rough.

Ollie will say, "I'm proud of you," occasionally, but that's not really what Rae wants, what she savors.

When Dinah looks her in the eye and winks, smiling, that's what she wants.

When Kalda runs into her on missions (for one side or the other) and kisses her, that's what she wants.

When Dixie skips out of the shadows and bleeds a drop of innocence, a smidgen of love, that's what she wants.

When Willow beams and dashes to her side, _loving_ unconditionally until she _hates_, that's what she wants.

When Apollo glares and grumbles, but_ stares_ and _speaks_, that's what she wants.

She just wants a little piece of happiness for herself.

_but you never came for me,_

Rae doesn't kill anymore.

_so I must go for them._

She doesn't have to.

_Your soul is here._


	7. Bursting Into Life

**A/N:** _Thank you to anyone who commented, favorited, or story alerted! **Warnings:** Gore involving children and the usual craziness. Anything you have to say (or questions) is appreciated! _

/ **Kryptongirl – 4**

Even though she's still angry [at the world, at her _genetic donors_, at _everyone_], she finds it extremely difficult to loathe any of her teammates. They are all, in a word that the G-gnomes implanted in her brain, very charming. Even Morgan, who she distrusts, and Apollo, who she does not understand.

Missions, however, are going well. Kryptongirl loves them.

_As I understand, humans **feel**,_

The addition of Morgan, while not entirely welcome, has been imperative to their team. Connecting their brains, their thoughts, their [hearts] and [souls] is everything Kryptongirl ever wanted. They make her feel _so human_. Almost real, like she isn't an unwanted accident. It is breathtaking.

She's going to make sure their connection never wavers, never breaks. She needs them, needs this, now. It is her very own kryptonite, her own _sun_, in a way.

_they **feel** everything intensely_

Kryptongirl killed at Cadmus, during the break out, pushed her fists through mushy brain-matter and hard bone, but on the first mission, it had seemed much more… tangible.

She only remembers bits and pieces, the epinephrine pounding through her veins as it was, but they were _wonderful_ bits and pieces.

The crunch of a feeble, butterfly spine under her fingertips, echoing in her ears like music, pleading whispers and fraught screams, cooing at her like baby boys and girls—all of it was _beautiful_ because before then, she didn't realize the dazzling _brittleness _of the human body. Of the human mind.

_so much that, that sometimes they **break**._

So easily they broke, giving up everything for their own life, forsaking those they loved and those they did not without a second thought. Humans, as Kryptongirl discovered that night, are altruistic to a point and egocentric all the way through. It is not really their fault, merely the way they were built.

And, with some relish, she thinks, the way _she_ was built. She is as human as they are when it comes to that one emotion—_you_ above all. If anything, the most inhumane of humans are the _heroes_, those who would renounce themselves for the world, who would let go of life for one single person, who would never, _ever _take a life.

_I want that._

They are the ugliest of souls, the stained ones. Kryptongirl knows that now. She can appreciate her teammates a little more, her so-to-speak _friends_.

Kalda is strong, invulnerable, the calm before the storm, perhaps the eeriest of them all and utterly dignified, both in life and death. She enjoys commemorating her kills, giving them a bit of remorse, a bit of justice, and refuses to let them go with nothing but the greatest of honors. Kalda is the closest they will ever get to _good_.

_I want those **feelings**_

Dixie is clever, crazy, and outrageously hysterical. She is the most textbook definition _insane_ of them all, but is also, in a way, the _most humane_. She has her reasoning—and it all makes sense, to her. She is the most blameless, and it shows in every second where she does not hesitate, in every sparkle in her eyes when the person before them takes their last breath.

_because without them, I am nothing._

Willow is a clinical scientist, and despite her bright, attractive, and loud personality, she is rather cynical when it comes down to it. She does not believe in magic, or true generosity, or other human things, but she can be painfully sweet and pathetically romantic, both ideologies ingrained in her nature. Sometimes Willow does things—things that could be interpreted as sincere compassion—that baffle her, and the rest of the team, but they have learned to take such things in stride. She, however, deeply loves killing people. She gets an _almost _sadistic, sexual pleasure from it, but because her personality is so _innocently_ clinical, she does not.

_Without them I remain less than a person,_

M'rgann is tricky. Half of him is genuine, bringing them burnt cookies that only Willow can bear to eat, floating bodies for Dixie and Will so that they don't get too scuffed up before dissection, even kindly opening the door for Kalda whenever their esteemed leader must enter a room. The other half, though, honestly terrifies Kryptongirl, because she does not understand it, not one bit. This half of him makes her lick her lips as he burns these _humans_ alive in a fit of ironic sadism or, maybe, moral disinterest. This half is the difference between Morgan and M'rgann, and it is grotesquely gorgeous, divinely deadly, and ethically eclipsed. Kryptongirl doesn't trust Morgan because she knows nothing about him, but she _does_ adore him for creating the union between the team.

_but more than an object, forever cursed to both **feel** and **not feel** at the same time._

Apollo is… confusing. He has a penchant for being as crass and crude as Willow, but also a gentleman, at times. Kryptongirl thinks that if Willow were male, she might act more like Apollo. Yet, they are also very different. Willow's humor is goofy, cheesy, and at times, utterly morbid. Apollo enjoys jokes of a more sexual nature, often with a side of sarcastic banter. He, while claiming to dislike Inertia, seems oddly fixated on her most of the time, which is suspicious to Kryptongirl. However, Apollo and Kalda get along oddly well, mostly because of the way they kill—very efficiently, all smooth soldiering and quick deaths. Only Willow and Dixie truly like to torture their victims, or spend time with the cadaver after, while Morgan could not be less indifferent, Kalda likes to humor them, and Apollo finds it a mix of disgusting and humorous.

_Is this a place where I could be safe?_

She wonders, sometimes, what they truly think of her.

_Where you will accept me for who I am?_

In the moments when they sit down and watch TV together, making fun of all the 'good people,' or when they go on shopping trips for new clothes, or when they let her kill the latest victim, Kryptongirl thinks,

_I didn't think so._

"I have a home here. A family." She knows they feel the same. She knows that despite all their flaws, they are absolute perfection.

_That's why it has to be this way._

She hears Willow snickering with Dixie in the kitchen, probably playing with the body in the freezer, and Kalda and Apollo working out in the training room, methodically cutting down robotic opponents. M'rgann is floating next to her, immersed in meditation.

_Because you will never accept me. And I know that._

If there is one thing in all the world Kryptongirl is afraid of, it is not Alexander Luthor or Superman. It is not the Dark Knight or the Flash. It is not even being inhumane on principal, being spit at by others less sociopathic, being forced to reveal her true roots. She fears losing them. The only ones who have ever accepted her.

She refuses to lose them. She will keep them with her. Whatever it takes.

_Your fear is here._

/ **Morgan – 4 **

Today they must defeat Klarion, a particularly troublesome sorceress of chaos, who has chosen to tease the path between villainous and heroic. Originally Psimon and Luthor's orders had been to capture her for brainwashing, or at least trigger an official transition onto their side, but Klarion had proved to be tricky.

Too tricky—it's time to take her out.

_There is an old Martian tale about family._

Morgan floats above the ground, invisible to all except for other Martians and waits. They will destroy this Klarion, and then the Injustice League will give them more presents. Willow and Dixie love presents, Kalda finds them sweet, if unnecessary, Apollo looks at the gifts with a pleased suspicion, and Kryptongirl delights in them. Morgan loves it when his teammates' minds fill with the light that these gifts bring them, and hates the pain that emanates through their brains whenever they are punished.

_It says that family is the ultimate reclamation of innocence._

Abra Kadabra, Klarion's partner in crime and assumed mentor, comes around the corner. Morgan alerts the others. Willow speeds in, past Abra, all the way to where they believe Klarion is hiding.

"How dare you come to my home!" Abra shrieks when they attack him.

_The mother and father are pistons of peace. _

He tries to magic them out of existence. Morgan telepathically slices his arm off, and as it falls, a whimper is heard clear from the shadows.

But it's not Klarion's. Apollo heads to the source, eyes narrowing.

_The children revolve around them in harmony._

There is a group of children, obviously Abra's harem of sorts, ranging from nine to about thirteen years of age.

Morgan distracts Abra with a mind trick and Kalda swoops forward with her water-strong arms and decapitates him cleanly. The spray of blood hits Morgan in the face. He licks it away.

_Of course, this is in a perfect family—the ideal one._

Apollo and Kalda look at each other, and then back at the wailing children. Apollo steps forward.

"Don't worry," he tells them soothingly, "We're not going to hurt you. We're here to help." And they are.

Tenderly, Kalda sits them all down and calms them, until the crying stops and the whimpers subside. They look shell-shocked and cold. Morgan gives them a kind smile. They stare with wide, tainted eyes, and pity stabs through him.

_It doesn't really exist here, does it?_

All at once, he ends their lives, as gently as possible. Telepathically, cutting off the part of the brain they need to _survive_. Even less painful than a lethal injection and they did not have the terrible knowledge of knowing it was coming.

Poor, sad, rotten little things. So contaminated with Abra's benevolent words and caressing hands, all evil, evil, evil. Really, he's doing them a favor. The bodies slump, one after the other, like dominos. Something Willow introduced to him.

Apollo and Kalda stand up.

_I would know, I have seen a thousand terrible things._

"We should go," Kalda says. Apollo blinks at her once.

"Willow's not back yet." He reminds them. Morgan's eyes narrow. Willow went to fight off Klarion. If she's not okay…

They run to get her.

_I've done even more._

Willow is soaked in blood, presumably Klarion's, and there's a golden helmet resting underneath her curled arm. She grins at them, teeth stained with blood and magic. She probably bit the other girl in a fit of rage, at one point. Apollo is the only one who grins back like that, wild and a tad sadistic.

Willow brings out the worst in him, Morgan thinks fondly.

_But it doesn't matter because_

They don't question the lack of a body and silently agree to pretend Willow and Dixie burned it with acid.

Truly, it's not that unbelievable—Willow hates magic with a shriveled passion, and would do almost anything to destroy it. She believes in science.

They also don't remark on the cold, dead body of an old man, one who has been laid remorsefully. Will has fits of repentance sometimes, almost as often as she has outbursts of generosity.

_there is no true incorruptibility,_

She doesn't say a word about the children's bodies, either. They haven't moved them and the kids are serene in death as they were not in life.

Their faces are painted like dolls, both boys and girls. Their clothes are made from only the best material—none at all.

Abra Kadabra's headless cadaver lies, dripping. Willow reaches over and grabs the head, happily. Then she places the helmet on the head.

"Who's the helmet belong to?" Apollo asks, looking amused. "That old guy?"

"Yeah," Will replies, "But now it's mine. A souvenir. There's someone inside. Someone wonderful."

The Injustice League is going to reward them greatly tonight.

_or completely virtuous being. We are all flawed greatly, _

They leave the children lying there, eyes glazed with death and the mist of magic, their limp fingers curled around stuffed toys. One of them has a plushy Batman, another has the Flash.

Willow, at the last minute, rushes over and picks them up.

"So we feel safe at night." She says.

_but we don't realize it until it's too late. _

They go home, and find two packages waiting for them. Dixie kisses Willow on the lips and they watch Star Wars together.

Kryptongirl actually sits next to him. They hold hands.

_Your innocence is here. _


	8. Aching Bodies

**Warnings: **_Implied non-graphic, non-consensual sex between a minor and an adult. Be warned if anything involving rape, underage sex, or especially both triggers you. Also, gore, the Joker, and all the usual craziness! _

**A/N: **_Thanks for any wonderful comments I have gotten, especially in the last few days! You guys keep me writing! :) Anyways, I hope you enjoy it!__  
_

/ **Willow – 5 **

Willow knows that Klarion isn't really dead. Despite her and Dr. Fate's best efforts, the witch of chaos managed to escape. She has no doubt that Klarion will go straight to the Justice League with her woes. They might be discovered.

None of this matters, however. She has the helmet—a very powerful thing that the Injustice League treasures greatly—and Abra Kadabra's head for her souvenir room. She'd gone to Mr. Luthor for a cryogenic chamber for the head. He'd congratulated her on the wonderful find and provided a sort of cooler for it.

_Do you remember Christmas Eve when we first met,_

They rewarded the entire team with a robot. Tornado 25, a prototype for an even more brilliant robot, is their new 'den mother' as Dixie likes to call it. It took Dixie twenty five minutes to hack the thing, so they're all very impressed with the programming.

_you gave me a diamond necklace? _

Willow waits for her uncle silently, clutching her precious notebook to her chest. She told Dixie to wait up, but she knows that the other girl will fall asleep on Kryptongirl far before Willow gets back.

That's okay; they'll make it up to each other tomorrow.

The walls are closing in.

_I still have it. Wear it almost every day._

Zoom, her _uncle,_ speeds around the corner. He's not smiling. His mouth is twisted into an ugly frown. Willow steps forward, eyelashes fluttering nervously.

"Uncle," she greets, "Why so serious?"

_Do you know how diamonds are created?_

Zoom scowls even more deeply at her.

Suddenly, he's all up in her face.

Zoom is not deceivingly delicate like Dixie; there's no thin, tiny body with soft breasts and slick warmth between the legs. There are no brilliantly azure eyes framed by long lashes, or milky skin covered with makeup and scars. Strong thighs, big hands, cold fingers.

_I do. They're crushed, smothered, condensed, oppressed coal, rock, meteor bits. _

Zoom is not sternly, beautifully curved like Kalda. There's no golden toned skin and flinty silver eyes, no winding tattoos and whip scars on the back. There are no kind words, tender touches, or fleeting whispers. Crooked teeth, sharp bones, rough arms.

_Diamonds are unbreakable. Invincible, one might say._

Zoom is not vaguely naïve, yet endearingly angry like Kryptongirl. There are no bluntly honest interruptions or suddenly possessive proclamations. Where diamond hard, but silky smooth, skin was there is _other stuff_. Cruel words, loathing scowl, blunt fingernails.

_I am not made from diamond. Maybe I'm made from cubic zirconium, though._

Zoom is not alien green and misleadingly warm like Morgan. There are no vaguely compassionate brown eyes and affectionate mind-speaking. Instead of tentacles, extended to be horrific, taken to be exceedingly kinky, it hurts. Stony eyes, growling voice, empty promises.

_The point is, it's so easy to break me compared to the others._

Zoom is a lot like Apollo when they have sex. But Apollo is nicer. Apollo is kinder. Apollo is better. Apollo takes care of her. It occurs to her, this night, that _Zoom is not her uncle_. Who is he?

_Over and over I forget and, in a sense, I'm a lot like_

She screams once, and pulls away. She runs, runs as far as she can. Dixie embraces her with open arms. Kryptongirl rages. Apollo's eyes shine with something akin to understanding and for the first time in forever they kiss like they mean it.

Dixie calls the Joker, but doesn't tell her.

_you. _

Morgan tells her to lie on the bed, tells her,

"I'll fix this, beautiful."

And he does.

_Is Aunt Iris still alive, uncle?_

Apollo tells her to sit in the chair, tells her,

"I'll make it hurt less, precious."

And he does.

_Does she miss me? Does she talk about me?_

Kryptongirl tells her to sit at the table, tells her,

"Have some cookies. Morgan made them. They'll make you feel better."

And they do.

_Does she even remember me?_

Kalda tells her to get in the shower, tells her,

"Let me scrub away the pain. It always works for me."

And she lets her.

_I remember_

The Joker tells her to come into the room, tells her,

"Look, look at his body, my darling. Isn't it wonderful?"

Zoom's (not her uncle, _neverheruncle_) cold, cruel, rough, hard, _burning_ (_inahousecorpses)_, dead eyes stare at her.

And it's so wonderful.

_one year we went_

Dixie tells her to hold her hand, tells her,

"I love you."

She replies, "I love you too."

_to the carnival in Keystone_

She lies in their shared bed and wonders if Zoom lied to her about magic, too.

_and it was really fun. _

_Your compassion is here. _

/** The Joker – 2 **

When Dixie calls him, the Joker is in a good mood. He's happy. Contented. Everything is going to plan, the others are cooperating accordingly and Batman is too busy to catch him because of Two-Face and Poison Ivy. But after she calls him, he stops being in such a good mood.

"_Daddy, please_," she begs, angry and terribly sad, "_You have to kill him. Or make him stop. He's hurting _Will!"

She loves Will. He approves of her. And Zoom is a _sick_, _twisted_ man. Besides, he's never killed a speedster before. It could be… fun.

"Oh sweetheart," he responds, rancid breath puffing against the phone, "Anything for you."

He hunts Zoom down, just for fun, terrorizing Central City while he's at his. Batman is very confused, attempting to help the Flash track the both of them. They don't understand why he's here, but Zoom sure catches on. He begs the Rogues to hide him. And true to their melted little hearts, they don't. They care about the Flash far too much. The Joker thinks it's impossibly sweet, and doesn't kill them for the time being. Captain Cold, the old dodger, ignores him and refuses to stir up trouble while they're there.

He captures Zoom easily on the last day of the week, when the man is half starved and past insanity. He pleads, but the Joker does not let up. This is _fun_.

"All for good laughs," he tells the other man, ripping open Zoom's chest with a flick of his wrist, "No hard feelings. _Hahahaha_."

Zoom's rib bones glitter in the moonlight.

The Joker boxes up his brain and heart and sends the former to Batman and the latter to the Flash.

/ **Apollo – 5 **

He's so angry_angry_**angry**, he's just better at hiding it than Kryptongirl. He wishes he could have killed Zoom, but that mission was the Joker's. So, instead, he trains.

Kalda comes in, wet from visiting her _father_. She twinkles under the eerie colors of the lights in the training room, and nods to Apollo. He stops, for a moment, and nods back. They, at least, have an understanding. He cannot say the same for the rest of the team.

Surprisingly, Kalda joins him.

They combat for a while, teasingly dangerous with too-close flicks of their poisoned weapons, and Apollo learns a thing or two about the true grace of an Atlanean. They stop, breathing heavily. Now, Kalda drips with sweat. There's a certain irony about someone from Atlantis _sweating_ salt water.

_Alice fell down the rabbit hole_

Apollo stares at her heatedly.

"I know what you are thinking," Kalda starts, "and I will help you, if you wish." Apollo's eyes are hard and grey, the stormy sky, the tumultuous ocean. Kalda's are clear and silver, the still sea, the cloudless dusk.

"I—" Apollo cuts himself off briefly and looks away. Those eyes are pulling him in. "I just need to make things right. For me, too."

Kalda nods, again, understanding. "Yes. And I must find Rae."

Apollo purses his lips.

_to get away from the oppressors_

He still doesn't like Rae. But Kal—she obviously cares about her. And Apollo doesn't want to mess this up. This team thing—it's been good, so far. Besides, _Willow_ likes Rae. So, he agrees, placing a careful hand on Kal's forearm. A kind of _reassurance_.

_but she hit her head on the rocks_

They go, swift and silent, Apollo wordlessly thanking his namesake's sister for the new moon that graces the sky. Stars spread a silver glow over Kal's body next to his, and Apollo appreciates it probably more than he should. They head for Star City, the last place Sportsmaster and Huntress were seen.

Apollo knows where their house is.

_and fell unconscious. _

They sneak in, efficient mostly because Apollo knows every trap, every cheat that his _father_ could ever pull.

Kal steals the information on Rae's whereabouts while Apollo slides into his parents' room. He'd thought, for a mere second, that Lawrence would wake up, would sense this. A true villain, Apollo justifies, would know.

_There, lying cold and still, the Mad Hatter finds her_

He uncaps Willow's choice poison and it goes drip_drip_**dripping **past his father's lips, into his father's throat.

_"Down the esophagus," Will would say, were she here, "and into the stomach. The acid of the stomach cannot neutralize this poison. It works quickly, too—the subjected will be dead within the hour. No outer signs of death, and the poison will destroy itself." _

He leaves his mother alone.

_and brings her up to lie with him._

She will live, live with the guilt and the pain as he has to. She will die every day knowing what she's done to him, how she has neglected him.

Apollo leaves the room with this tight, satisfied feeling in the pit of his stomach. The hole there fills with the sweet syrup of revenge, the sticky molasses of retaliation after so many years. He has never felt so free.

He has no doubts that the Joker and Lex Luthor will suspect them, but the ones who really matter—the _heroes_—will not. Not for a while, not until it's too late.

There has always been an end game. They just have to reach it.

_She lies with him for eight days,_

Kal meets him outside, manila folder clenched between her mocha fingertips. Her cheekbones are stark in the starlight, her face twisted into something halfway between hope (_bitter, bitter hope_) and resignation.

"Have you done what is necessary, my friend?" She asks, polite and interested. Apollo smiles darkly, teeth a wicked line between his lips, canines oddly sharp. He makes Kal excited in a way that she has not been since the last time they saw Rae.

"Of course, Kal," he replies. He holds out his hand, steady and stable. She takes it.

"Let's go."

_and they are the best of her life. _

Morgan and Kryptongirl—Connie, now, if Apollo remembers correctly—intercept them. They stare at the two _aliens_, the _foreigners_. The ones with no true feelings.

"Don't go alone," Connie warns them, all at once concerned and angry. She is protective, possessive, and obsessed, but they like her that way. Morgan nods, eyes as empty as ever. But his mind fills Apollo's with a pleasant buzzing, a kind of warmth that could only be found before when Jade would crawl into his bed late at night and slip their bodies together and whisper in his ear.

_"Let's go get ice cream, little brother."_ He would say. And Apollo would agree. They'd leave the window open—it didn't matter if _father_ knew, mother would approve and that's all that truly mattered—and have cones in the park, making friends with the local junkies. Those are the only happy memories Apollo has of his house in Star City.

Rae came with them a few times, too.

_When the Mad Hatter asks Alice to stay,_

"I have an idea," he says to the others as they make their way deeper into Star City, following the harsh lines of alleyways and drug addicts as they go. "Do you want to get some ice cream?"

_she says yes because there is nothing for her anywhere else._

_And together, they make Wonderland. _

_Your bravery is here._


End file.
